Los Alamitos’ Summer Thoroughbred Festival Kicks Off Friday

The first of two Thoroughbred meets at Los Alamitos this year will begin Friday, June 26.

The seven-day Summer Thoroughbred Festival will continue through Sunday, July 5 with racing conducted Friday-Sunday (June 26-28) the first week and Thursday-Sunday (July 2-5) the final week. Post time each racing day is 1 p.m.

The season will be highlighted by a pair of graded stakes races – the Grade II, $200,000 Great Lady M. for fillies and mares (3-year-olds & up) at 6 ½ furlongs and the Grade III, $150,000 Los Alamitos Derby for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles.

Both will be run Saturday, July 4. The Los Alamitos Derby is part of the “Road to the Kentucky Derby'' in 2020. The winner will receive 20 points towards a berth in the Kentucky Derby, which will be run Saturday, Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs.

The wagering menu includes the Pick Six – with the traditional 70-30 split – a pair of $1 Pick 4's – races 2-5 and the final four races – as well as the extremely popular Players' Pick 5 – a 50-cent minimum wager with a reduced 14% takeout rate which is offered on the first five races.

The other stakes race to be offered is the $100,000 Soi Phet for 3-year-olds & up bred or sired in California.

Run at one mile, the Soi Phet – which was formerly named the Bertrando (2014-2019) – honors a gelding who was a five-time stakes winner at Los Alamitos prior to his retirement at age 11 last year. Two of his local victories came in the Bertrando, including the inaugural running in 2014.

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Highest Ground Returns at Haydock

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Wednesday’s Insights features the return of two ‘TDN Rising Stars’.

1.10 Haydock, Novice, £5,400, 3yo/up, 10f 100yT
HIGHEST GROUND (IRE) (Frankel {GB}) makes his eagerly-awaited return, having earned TDN Rising Star status a long time ago when impressing on his winning debut at Leicester in September. The Niarchos Family’s relative of the sire King of Happiness (Spinning World) encounters another TDN Rising Star in Gestut Ammerland and Newsells Park Stud’s Waldkonig (GB) (Kingman {GB}), the John Gosden-trained half-brother to Waldgeist (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) who was third when odds-on for the Listed Newmarket S. earlier this month.

 

2.10 Haydock, Novice, £6,400, 2yo, 7f 37yT
CAIRN ISLAND (IRE) (Kodiac {GB}) cost trainer Kevin Ryan 525,000gns at the Tattersalls October Book 1 Sale and debuts for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum in this intriguing affair. The half-brother to the useful Galileo (Ire) pair of Cameron Highland (Ire) and Field of Miracles (Ire) gets seven pounds from Russell Jones’s Tom Dascombe-trained Devious Company (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}), who beat some rivals who fared well in last week’s Listed Chesham S. including March Law (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}) on his debut at Haydock earlier this month.

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First North American Winner for Slipper Winner Vancouver

Vancouver (Aus) (Medaglia d’Oro) was represented by his first North American winner at Thistledown Tuesday afternoon.

Nicky Two Shoes, off at odds of 5-2 to debut a winner, chased early in third, hit the gas with a rail run on the far turn, took over as they hit the quarter pole, and after enjoying a clear lead from there, held on by a half-length over the unlucky favorite Latin Spice (Buffum), who was bumped hard by a rival and nearly went down in the stretch.

The winner’s dam had a colt by Shanghai Bobby in 2019 and a filly by Midnight Lute this year.

The 2015 G1 Golden Slipper S. and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Vancouver reverse shuttled from Coolmore Australia to the farm’s Ashford Stud in Versailles, Kentucky, for the 2017 breeding season.

6th-Thistledown, $21,000, Msw, 6-23, 2yo, 5f, 1:00.46, my.
NICKY TWO SHOES (c, 2, Vancouver {Aus}–Wendy Wow, by Invasor {Arg}) Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $12,000. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
O/B-Southern Comfort Farm (KY); T-William D. Cowans.

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Churchill Has Issued Proposal for Derby Spectators, Waiting to Hear From Governor

After submitting its proposal to allow fans to attend this year’s GI Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs officials are expecting to hear back from Governor Andy Beshear this week.

At his press briefing Monday, Beshear said he is reviewing Churchill’s proposal and would announce a decision shortly. Alluding to the GI Belmont S., where fans were not allowed in the stands, Beshear said he envisioned that the Kentucky Derby will be “different” than the Belmont.

“I believe that Churchill Downs made a very good decision to move the race,” the governor said. “It certainly wouldn’t have been safe when it was. I think they are offering a lot of concessions and are looking at safety precautions. I hope to have some information on this this week.”

“We submitted a plan to the governor’s office and we have continued our ongoing discussions about having a Kentucky Derby with spectators,” said Darren Rogers, Churchill’s senior director of communications. “We have had good, careful collaboration with their office and they have asked some questions and we gave them our answers. We expect to hear some news this week.”

Churchill has not released details of its proposal and it is not clear if management is seeking to have a Derby with an unlimited amount of spectators or one where the number of people that can attend is capped.

“Our team has worked through a number of different scenarios based on whatever permissions are granted,” Rogers said. “We want to have as many people as we can while operating safely and responsibly.”

Because of the pandemic, the date of the Derby was shifted from May 2 to Sept. 5 in hopes that by Labor Day weekend the coronavirus situation would become more manageable. It appears that will be the case. Beshear said in his press briefing Monday that he had no new coronavirus deaths to report and said he could only recall two other days since the pandemic started that that was the case. Kentucky will move into its next phase of reopening Monday. When that happens, Beshear said, “just about everything in the commonwealth will be open in some capacity.”

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